Cheesecake
by neverlanding rapunzel
Summary: "Mari," he faintly breathes the old nickname with the slight tenderness of a once fond memory, "Please, can you get me a cheesecake?" / Adrien is upset due to Ladybug rebuffing his affections again, so he finds himself at the bakery, re-making the acquaintance of an old friend. Reveal!Three-Shot. Future!Adrienette.
1. One

**_Cheesecake_**

It had all begun due to Adrien Agreste—as his crime-fighting alter-ego, Chat Noir—making yet another failed attempt to woo his mysterious, black-spot clad partner Ladybug. Such a feat that Adrien had been struggling to accomplish for almost ten years. Ten full years of running on rooftops, chasing down butterflies, staying lookout even in some of the most romantic places in the alleged city of love, Paris, and yet, the blond boy had never so much as scraped the surface when it came to charming the woman of his affections.

The bell of the bakery jingled upon his entrance in such a way that irritated the Agreste boy, for the chiming of the bell was much too cheerful a sound for him to hear today. There's a faint shuffling to be heard in the back of the shop, the culprit as to which was revealed to be a short bluenette carrying several boxes of baked goods, several of the aforementioned boxes being balanced on her head.

"Apologies, Monsieur," speaks the girl, aimed in the direction of Adrien. The boy had his hood covering the entirety of his shoulders and head, concealing both his hair and face from view. He sighed faintly in acknowledgement that the girl was speaking without looking up to see her. "Monsieur—you see, you can't be in here, we're about to shut for the night."

He grimaced, then pushes the hood of his jacket down from his head and down his neck. "Look, can I please get a cheesecake?"

The bluenette doesn't register what had been said, for she recognises the boy—man—before her. Much older, still, but with the looming features of the teenage Agreste, it we definitely him. That, and the girl had been seeing his face plastered around the city for the last decade. "Adrien, honestly, I remember you had more manners than that."

It is the first time Adrien looks at the woman waiting on him, and he instantly identifies her to be that of Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

"Mari," he faintly breathes the old nickname with the slight tenderness of a once fond memory, "Please, can you get me a cheesecake?"

"Of course, Monsieur Agreste."

She disappears for a brief moment into the back, and then re-emerges with a plate of cheesecake in hand. She places it in front of him, allowing her hand to linger from placing it down as she awaits a response.

"Mercí, Mari," he finally says after several moments.

For most, it would be left at just that. However, Marinette couldn't help but see the looming emptiness in his eyes, almost like the playful nature of the boy of yesteryears had shrivelled away into the bitter man she sees here—but no, that's impossible. He's Adrien Agreste.

"What are you doing here, Adrien?" she asks him, grabbing a cloth from the sink and beginning to wipe down the tables of the bakery. Adrien exhales in slight exasperation, "I wanted to drink my body weight in liquor but I realised that would be damaging to my reputation. I can see the headlines now: ' _Model Adrien Agreste Dies From Alcohol Poisoning, Father Sees It As A Minor Setback_ '."

Marinette momentarily stops her motion of cleaning tables, "Since when did you become so cynical? Clearly, a lot has changed since high school—"

"Have you ever felt so completely and utterly tormented by love that you can't take it anymore?" he reveals in a sudden outburst.

Marinette contemplates on what exactly was said for a moment, and then another. "Love trouble?"

Adrien snickers, like he had just discovered the most remarkable joke, "Lady trouble."

To that, he receives the raise of an eyebrow. Adrien was arguably the most handsome man in Paris, not to mention astoundingly rich. Marinette would assume that there would be several girls lining up for a chance with him. "But you're Adrien Agreste."

"See, this lady of mine doesn't know that, nor will she ever know that. The only person she knows is me, as myself, not as a model, not as the son of Gabriel Agreste, simply as me."

Marinette doesn't know how it could be that the girl, his 'lady', somehow didn't realise who he was. Instead, she focuses on something else, "How long have you been pining for this girl?"

Adrien breathes a sigh of deep regret, "Okay, but don't laugh," he warns her. She shrugs at the very thought of it, "What is there to laugh at?"

"I'm pathetic," he attempts to explain, though the 'loser' effect really is shattered by perfection of him. "Ten years."

"Ten years?" Marinette almost exclaims at the revelation. "That's a long time to like someone."

"I don't just 'like' her, Mari," the tenderness of the nickname returning to his voice, "I love her."

Marinette suddenly realises the cliché that is this moment: Adrien Agreste, pouring his heart out to a stranger a counter as they clean. The only difference between this and the expected is that, in the expectation, Adrien would have consumed more alcohol then he should have.

Adrien finishes his cheesecake, somehow considerably cheered up by the food. He brushes away non-existent crumbs from his shirt and wipes cream from his mouth. The hood of his jacket is re-adjusted to his head to once again conceal his identity, and he holds out a handful of money to Marinette.

"Thirty euros?" the bluenette mentally counts the money in his palm, "The cheesecake's only five—"

"Thanks for letting me… whatever that was… vent?" Adrien doesn't let her protest, instead forcing the money into her hand. "Take it. Please, I've got more than I need."

Reluctantly, Marinette closes her hands over the money, and with that, the much-too-cheerful sound of the bell rings once more, this time no longer too cheerful.

* * *

 _author's note: it is to be kept in mind that i randomly came up with this idea and decided to write it at four in the morning. i'll probably be making this into either a two shot or a three shot? i'm not particularly sure but this won't be a long story, mostly because i already have another reveal fic in the works._


	2. Two

Proceeding that first visit to the bakery, came countless a single day came to pass where Adrien Agreste didn't make a stop to pick up his daily dose of cheesecake. Much like that first night, the reigning cliché that was Marinette's suddenly almost therapeutic role in Adrien's life as she cleaned the shop every evening continued to remain a fixture in the duo's friendship.

Adrien's daily presence at the bakery hadn't been the only change to be bestowed on the Dupain-Cheng's, as with the model's appearances arrived a steadily increasing amount of regular customers—many of these being quite the unusual people—however, even with the abundance of irregular regulars, the bluenette woman running it all could never have expected a visitor quite like this.

Despite being someone whom Marinette was accustomed to seeing everyday in costume, the appearance of the leather-glad, cat-based superhero was quite startling to the bluenette.

He looked the most unusual in the background of the bakery, with the shop's warm colours and smell of freshly baked bread. Marinette had never once seen Chat Noir come here before—or perhaps she had seen him countless times, in civilian form?—as she was sure she would have known if one half of the heroes of Paris, as well as her crime-fighting partner, had ever set foot in her bakery.

"Chat Noir?" Marinette calls him to the counter, as his hovering around the shop was beginning to not only worry her, but also annoy her a little. "And what would Paris' hero being doing, in costume, in broad daylight, in a bakery?"

His sarcasm is automatically switched on, with the obvious beginning of some kind of joke curling on his lips, "Well, Princess, I happen to be out of kitty snacks, and I'm hungry. Why else would one go to a bakery?"

"Wouldn't you be much more… suited to some of the more famous bakeries? What, with your fame and everything?"

Marinette catches the rolling of his eyes at her inquisitive nature, "If Adrien Agreste can come here, so can I. Cheesecake, Mari—" he winces at the almost slip of her usual nickname, and corrects the situation before she can question him further, "—nette."

The bluenette catches the stumble of his words, but doesn't comment on it. She slips into the back, returning with a cheesecake in hand. Chat Noir frowns at the dish, whether in dismay or uncertainty. "Aren't there… aren't there usually strawberries on top?"

"Excuse me?"

"No, there are definitely usually strawberries on top."

The only possibly way for Chat Noir to know of their usual addition of strawberries would be for him to have come before. The thought crushed Marinette inside ever so slightly, for she did not recognise someone who she would consider being one of her favourite people in the world without something as simple as a mask.

"Chat," she speaks slowly, momentarily forgetting any formalities she should be addressing Chat Noir with outside of costume, "have… have you been here before?"

His face contorts into an attempted smile, "No?"

His phrasing of a question makes it obvious: he had been here, and Marinette never noticed, or cared. She was always much too absorbed in preparing for Adrien's arrival in the evening that she didn't acknowledge any of the customers that weren't Monsieur Agreste.

"You know what? I'll have it without strawberries."

Marinette is left in the silence of her thoughts. The world has had all sound taken from it, though the shop is busy and Chat Noir is eating food so aggressively fast that it should be unbearably audible. She frowns at her feline friend for a second, and Chat Noir himself meets her eyes. She looks away from him, it was rude too stare.

"Marinette," he asks of her, "what do you do if the person you love so deeply can't seem to see it?"

"Are you talking about Ladybug?" she assumes, as this would he expected of Chat.

His face splits into a broad grin, "Who else?"

The bluenette sighs. Chat Noir had always been there for her, and she appreciated his efforts and wished that she were allowed to reciprocate his affections, "Perhaps… Ladybug is scared. Maybe she had her heart broken once before by someone she trusted and cared for with her whole being—"

"—I have a feeling that we're not talking about Ladybug here," Chat cuts over her, sympathy filling his green eyes, and something else that Marinette couldn't place—an apology, perhaps?

Chat Noir gets up from his seat, and hands Marinette thirty euros, just as Adrien always did.

"Chat—" she begins to say, arguing him giving her any large sum of money. With this, just as Adrien did, he forces her to take the money. "Take it. Please. I don't need it."

The tone of his voice resonates within her, reminding her so much of her model friend. However, unlike Adrien, he lifts up the back of her hands to his lips, and kisses her hand. "Thank you, Mari," he finishes without thinking about what he called her. He turns, and then leaves out the door.

It is with this that Marinette makes the sudden realisation: Adrien didn't come to the bakery at all that evening.


	3. Three

The French-Chinese girl can't help but pace as she awaits the arrival of her usually frequent customer. She knows just how irrational it is, to be so incredibly hung-up on this guy, especially with previous events and Marinette's expected mental maturity as she stands at twenty-five years old. The truth was this, though: Marinette Dupain-Cheng would never get over the green-eyed, blond-haired Parisian known as Adrien Agreste. He had consumed every aspect of her daily life once more, just as he had in her youth. She bluenette could recall every love struck moment she had spent with him, every moment had been more thrilling than the last.

That is, until it came to its end.

She sighs blissfully at the thoughts of her teen years, when she is interrupted by the familiar chiming of bells bringing her back into reality. The door is held open by Adrien, as he simply greets Marinette with a nod and a smile.

"You didn't come yesterday," Marinette mentioned, attempting to sound casual in her accusation.

The gears in Adrien's head turn, busy at work. He thinks for a moment on what exactly he is to say, and then finally decides to do what he believes is right.

"Mari, I did come yesterday," he tries to express just in the very same casual tone as Marinette had done so before.

This receives a frown from the baker's daughter, perplexion evident on her pretty face. While Marinette was impeccably smart when it came to many things, putting two obvious truths together was not an area she was particularly skilled in. "No, you didn't. Unless you learned how to make yourself invisible—?"

"No, I believe I sat in this very bakery yesterday evening, _chat_ -sising you about the horrible lack of strawberries on my cheesecake." The obvious pun lingers in the air between them, impregnating the silence. Marinette catches this, and Adrien awaits her reaction with a semi-grin on his face. When speech appears to fail her, the model raises an eyebrow at her, " _Cat_ got your tongue?"

"Adrien, is this a joke? You know I'm—" she lowers her voice so that only he could catch her words, "—you know I'm Ladybug, why would you make fun of me like this?"

For, years ago, when Adrien and Marinette were just teenagers, a temporary moment of insanity lead Madamoiselle Dupain-Cheng to asking the boy of her affections, Monsieur Agreste, out on an evening with her—that evening eventually turned into _evenings_ , as the nightly dinners multiplied and the pair grew closer. This closeness lead to Marinette opening her very soul to him—the reveal came that both the two leading ladies of the Agreste boy's heart were in fact the same person. Marinette Dupain-Cheng was Ladybug.

It was with this that the pair began to fall apart, as Adrien debated strongly with himself—much to Plagg's disapproval—whether or not he should tell her his secret, too. Ladybug didn't feel any sort of romantic attraction to her dear chaton, and the blond Parisian feared that would not go away if she were to know. The secret tore the two a part, leaving both of the duo's heart in tatters, eventually leading Adrien to do what he saw fit: he cut off all connections to Marinette. It brought him pain to see her every single day, and yet never telling her, with her never knowing.

"Why would I ever make fun of you, _Bugaboo_?" he asks of her, almost pleadingly, "I made a mistake not telling you, I worried that you didn't love both sides of me. I know, now, that it broke you so much for me to treat you that way—all because I was scared."

And so, Marinette Dupain-Cheng couldn't believe it: that the boy she had loved (and still did) and the resident black cat of her heart were one and the same. She also couldn't believe that it was only in this sudden moment of clarity that she truly realised the similarities between the two. Her heart ached.

"Will you take me as I am, Mari? I took you as you are years ago, now is it my turn for you to do the same for me?"

Marinette ruminates on the development without a word, leaving Adrien in the silence to wonder all of the thoughts that could possibly be running through her head at this point in time. She finally speaks.

"Yes. Did you expect anything less?"


End file.
